Could Brohm's Hire Save Tiller's Legacy?

It's funny, we've had some twists and turns in the ride toward Bobinski's first major sports hire at Purdue, but some things still matter to the Purdue family, in spite of rumors otherwise:

-The Cradle of Quarterbacks existed before Drew Brees was born...but many Purdue fans and potential recruits don't even remember Drew as a Boilermaker.

-When Purdue is good at football, their quarterback is damned good at throwing the football.

-The Purdue fanbase loves offense because of the principle above...whether they realize it or not. I'd love to see a consistent winner built on defense...and ramming the ball down the opposition's throat...If we knew what it felt like to be Wisconsin, MSU, Bama or the old aOSU teams, as a fanbase we'd almost insist upon a run-first mentality. Sadly we don't.

I had a bit of a back-and-fourth on Twitter with a few fellow Boilers about a cultural fit for the next coach...and a few of those involved in the discussion told me that the only culture Purdue had was that of losing. I disagreed then, and I still do today after hear the good news of Brohm's hiring. Purdue fans want/need the Cradle to be alive and active.

My Pops graduated from Purdue in '70...so his house and my house are filled with references to Griese, Phipps, Danielson, Campbell, Herman, Everett, Brees and even a few others. It's a pretty rich history...so hiring a QB, an offensive innovator and a guy who has had some recent success made a ton of sense.

Congrats to Purdue's AD for not letting this one get away. We'll know in two or three years if this was a really good hire...but as of today, it feels pretty damned good.

Even before Hazell was fired, my fellow BS pal, Aneesh was on fire for our site explorying coaching possibilities. J and I had been through this a few times, with the Hope, then Hazell hires, so perhaps we were a lil' weary of the process. But I can tell you that we all liked the idea of Brohm being Purdue's next HC long ago...and articles at the top of this page prove it.

I know many Purdue fans had an idea of Miles or nuthin'....or Fleck or nuthin'...sorry ladies and gentlemen that things didn't go that way, but this feels like a really good hire. Miles would have been exciting and splashy, Fleck would have been a rocket ride since he's such an EsPN phenom right now...but man, oh man, I want a winner and a good fit...and it seems like we got it.

The "1-2-3-4 FIRST DOWN!" chant is all but a relic at this point of a time in which Purdue was relevant, Ross-Ade was consistently full, and Purdue's offenses would/could force DCs into a tizzy as they marched down the field time and again. I was ready to see that chant go away if Purdue had gone a different direction, but let's keep it around for a bit a see what happens. If Brohm can install his offense with Blough or Sindelar, that chant might become annoying to visitors once again. Who knows, we might even be entertained on an Autumn Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette in the very near future.

I don't think our goals at this point as a fan base are unfair or too large to reach. We want a fun brand of football. We want our Boilers to go to a bowl game more than they don't. We want them to compete with everyone on the docket, and have every four year class contend for a major bowl, dare I say the B1G championship at least once.

A few days ago, these goals were pie in the sky...as we hadn't seen anything even resembling that in a decade. I think it's OK to bright-eyed and hopeful for a bit...I had forgotten, that's kinda what being a fan is all about.

Cowboy Joe had publicly crusaded for his ole DC, Brock Spack to take over the head coaching position at Purdue...secretly, part of him has to be happy for Brohm's hiring. I've said it on podcasts and written it here, Spack would have been fine coaching his alma mater...but the ceiling was relatively low, in my opinion. I don't feel that way with the Jeff Brohm era officially upon us.

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One more note:

We have publicly and privately told people we have an issue with people who try to SCOOOOOOOP everyone on Twitter and sites like this. There's nothing wrong with striving to be the first to report something that you've heard with true insider's info...In fact, it's pretty great to say you actually did it. That said, it absolutely kills me when people regurgitate info that's already out there and claim it to be their own research that broke a story.

Our pals at GBI have been all over the Brohm news from its inception. An Indy radio host claimed he knew it was going to Brohm before anyone else via Twitter. The truth is, as he takes 'atta-boys' from his EsPN cohorts for being the guy to break this story, he did nothing of the sort...and he never does. Check the timeline yourself- GBI had this on the KHC board before him...but they don't publish that info on Twitter and elsewhere until ink's on the paper.

So congrats to the guys who really did the work, who really broke the story. And if you're a fan of that Indy radio host, good for you. We're not...he's done this before, he'll do it again...and again...and he won't apologize nor give credit to the real source.

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One more, one more note:

"Shout!" still sucks. It's truly a relic of some of the darkest days of Purdue football...let's move on from it.